Pad box



1952 c. K. WOODMAN 2,584,313

PAD BOX Filed April 15, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 ,1952 c. K. WOODMAN A 2,584,313

' PAD BOX Filed April 15, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 Q I I I' I V Z II I Q I I l 1 II I 1 1 II I: ,k F

IHII I l I I .H"'' I 4 "Inventor" Charles/C Woodman Patented Feb. 5, 1952 PAD Box Charles K. Woodman, Beverly, Mass, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation ofNew Jersey Application April 13, 1949, Serial No. 87,227

2 Claims. (01. 12-38) This invention relates to apparatus for operate ing on shoes and more particularly to pads for applying pressure to shoebottoms. The invention is illustrated as embodied in a pad of the type shown and described in Letters Patent of the Unitedfstates No. 2,205,400, granted June 25,

1940, on an application filed in the name of Sidney J. Finn for use in a cement sole attaching machine, although it will be understood that the invention is not thus limited in its application.

In pads of the type illustrated by the Firm patent the pressure-applying pad members are supported by a water bag which permits relative the pressure-applying operation to conform to the shoe bottom. The pad members and the water bag are contained in a box, the bottom of which is formed of parts which are angularly adjustable forvarying heel heights. The usual water bag in such constructions has been found satisfactory but it is somewhat expensive and its life is limited.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pad construction'having the advantages of the usual water bag but which is less expensive and has a longer life. To this end and in accordance with a feature of the invention the pad member is formed of resilient, material such as rubber, the pad member having a plurality of voids of uniform size which are uniformly spaced throughout the pad. More. specifically the pad member is formed of a plurality of rubber sheets the opposite faces of each sheet being provided with spaced ribs, the ribs on one face extending at right angles to the ribs on the other face. Preferably, although not necessarily, the ribs cross each other in such manner as to form continuous vertical columns of rubber each of which has spaces therearound into which the rubber can flow during the pressure-applying operation whereby the pad readily conforms to the curvature oijthe shoe bottom. Even if the sheets are not superposed in a manner to form the vertical columns of rubber it will be understood that the spaces between the ribs form voidsinto which the rubber can flow during the pressure-applying operation in much the same manner aswater flows in the conventional water bag. By choosing rubber of the proper durometer the pad member may be made to conform to the bottom of the shoe to the same degree as, or more or less than, that of the usual water bag. The degreeof wrap of the pad member along the margins of the shoe bottom is thus readily controlled by a choice of rubber of the proper durometer and also '-by a choice of the number of sheets employed.

Further to control the degree of wrap and in accordance with another feature of the invention yielding movements of the pad members during 'the pad member may be recessed at desired locations in its periphery such as at opposite sides of that portion which is to underlie the shank of. a shoe and these recesses may be filled by solid rubber blocks of the desired durometer thereby limiting the flow of rubber adjacent to the blocks and stiffening the pad member at these locations.

In using such a member on a pad box having a bottom of, relatively movable parts for adjustment for shoes of different heel heights the sheets of the pad member can slide relatively to one another so that the adjustment of the pad box is easily made.

It is to be understood that the term rubber is used here in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense and is intended to include all substances, the physical properties of which ap proximate rubber sufiiciently to permit them to operate as herein disclosed.

The above and other features of the invention including various details of construction and novel combinations of parts will now be described by reference to the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an angular view of one form of pad member in which the invention is embodied, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through a pad box employing a pad member of the type shown in Fig. 1.

The invention is illustrated as embodied in a is formed of a plurality of rubber sheets I8 each of which sheets is provided on one face with spaced ribs 20 extending lengthwise of the pad -box, the other face ofeach of the sheets being provided with transversely extending spaced ribs 22 These ribs are preferably substantially square in cross section and are spaced from each other approximately the same distance as the thickness of the ribs although it will be understood that the shape and spacing of the ribs may be varied. The sheets of rubber carrying the ribs are relatively thin so that the pad member is made up principally of alternate layers of transverse and longitudinal spaced ribs. This pad member may beused as a substitute for the water bag of the pad box shown in the Finn patent to support the shoe-supporting pad made up of the forepart block of rubber 24, the heel block 26 and the separate blocks 28 which underlie the shank portion of the shoe. A block of rubber 30 forms an abutment for the rearward portions of the sheets as shown in Fig. 2.

The sheets of rubber of the pad member l can slide relatively to one another in the adjustment of the bottom parts l4, I6 of the pad box thus facilitating this adjustment for shoes of different heel heights. The sheets is may be so disposed in the pad box that the transversely extending ribs and the longitudinally extending ribs lie directly above one another, as shown in Fig. 1, thereby to provide continuous columns of rubber for sustaining the pressure appliedto the bottom of the shoe. The spaces betweenthe columns of rubber or between the different ribs permit the rubber to flow as required in. they pressureany extent desired.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as'new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a pad for. use in applying pressure to shoe bottoms, a plurality of substantially recapplying operation so that the pad'memb'er readily conforms to the shape of the shoe bottom..

The degree of flow of rubber and consequently of conformation of the pad member to the shoe bottom is readily controlled by varying the number of sheets of which the pad member is composed, by employing rubber of the .proper duronieter, and by varying the relative sizes of the ribs and the spaces between the ribs.

In order that heavy pressure may be exerted in the shank of the shoe it is desirable that there will be less opportunity for the rubber of the pad member In to flow in this locality. Accordingly, the sheets l8 are cut away to form recesses 32 in the pad member 10 in the sides of that portion of the pad member which is to underlie the shank of the shoe. These recesses are then filled with blocks 34 of solid rubber of whatever hardness is desired thereby stiffening these portions of the pad member.

When pressure is applied to the bottom of a shoe S which rests on a cover 36 of the pad members 24, 26, 28, the pad member I 0 assumes the shape required by the relative movements of the pad members 24, 26, 28 to support these latter members in accordance with the shape of the shoe bottom, greater pressure being applied by reason of the use of the solid rubber blocks 34 in the vicinity of the shank of the shoe.

Although the invention has been illustrated herein as a substitute for the usual water bag of a pad box for a cement sole attaching machine, it will be understood that it may be used to advantage in other types of pad boxes such as those intended for sole-laying operations. One form of pad box with which the pad member of the present invention is particularly useful is in combination with the flexible metal blanket of United States Letters Patent No. 2,497,195, granted February 14., 1950, as the joint invention of N. S. Ferland and myself. In such a combination the pad member of the present invention would provide the support for the flexible metal blanket of this copending application. When used as a substitute for the usual water bag of a pad box of the type shown in the Finn patent a' saving in the cost of the pad box is effected and the pad member will outlast the usual water bag".

tangular superposed rubber sheets the opposite faces of. each of which are provided with spaced ribs, the ribs on one face extending at right angles to the ribs .on.the other face .of each sheet and at right angles-to the contiguousribs of the adjacent sheet, that portion of the pad whichv is to underlie the shank of theshoe being operated upon being'provided with. vertical recesses at the oppositesides of the pad, and solid rubber blocks filling said recesses.

2. Apparatus for use in applying pressure-to the bottoms of shoes comprising a pad box having relatively adjustable bottom walls, a substantially rectangular pad member supported by said walls, said pad member comprising a plurality of superposed rubber sheets the opposite faces of each of which are provided with spaced ribs,

the ribs on one face extending at right angles to the ribs on the other face and to the adjacent ribs of the contiguous sheet, said pad member having vertical recesses in the sides at that portion of the pad which is to underlie the shank of a shoe being operated upon, solid rubber blocks fillingsaid recesses thereby to reduce the capacity of the rubber in the shank portion to flow under appliedpressure, and a conformable shoe-engaging member supported by said pad member.

CHARLES K. WOODMAN.

REFERENCES CITED 7 The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS France Nora-18, 1927 

